AP Psych: Unit 7

A researcher wants to test whether increasing the size of a monetary incentive will motivate a person to perform better on a skill-based task. Which of the following methods is the best way to test this question, and what result will the researcher most likely find?

Offer three different groups of participants three different payment amounts (small, medium, or large) based on their performance on a single task. The researcher will likely find that participants perform best on the task that pays the most.

Alfred Kinsey used a method that allowed for extensive information to be collected from discussions with individual participants. The research method that he used, and his research contributions, were

personal interviews; the human response to stress

Researchers conduct a study in which university students are asked to solve puzzles, a task that all students in the experiment report enjoying before the study. They split the students into two groups: a group that is paid money for doing the puzzles, and a group that is not. The researchers then observe how often students in each group complete puzzles during their break time when they are allowed to do whatever they want. Assuming that their results are consistent with previous findings, the researchers are most likely to find that

the independent variable—whether or not the students receive money for doing puzzles—has a significant effect, such that students in the paid group spend less time doing puzzles during their break time

The neurotransmitter that is primarily associated with the feeling of wanting something is

dopamine

Getting a headache from not having a morning coffee after substantial daily coffee consumption for several months is most likely due to

withdrawal

A drug that has the effect of intensifying or mimicking a particular neurotransmitter can be characterized as

an agonist, because it intensifies the effects of a particular neurotransmitter

Brain lateralization refers to the

inclination for certain cognitive processes to be specialized to one hemisphere of the brain or the other

Hans grew up in Germany and later moved to Japan for a job opportunity. Back at home, he never had issues making friends or had interpersonal issues with colleagues at work, but in his new home, Hans is having difficulty interacting with his colleagues. According to psychologists who study how culture influences behavior, his difficulties most likely stem from

cultural differences in emotional expression and body language between Japan and Germany

Leo and Caitlin are both experiencing feelings about their date tonight. Leo has had bad dates lately, and so he feels fear and dejection. Caitlin, meanwhile, has had very good dates, and so she feels excited and happy. According to Richard Lazarus’ appraisal theory,

Leo and Caitlin have an immediate unconscious interpretation of the scenario, which leads them to simultaneously both label their feelings as either positive or negative and have the appropriate physiological response

Tahani is hiking in the woods and sees some movement in the trees. She immediately tenses up. A few moments later, after she realizes that the trees were just rustling in the wind, she calms down. According to Joseph LeDoux, Tahani’s reaction is due to the fact that

there is a fast processing path that sends sensory information directly to the amygdala, causing Tahani’s initial fear response, and a slower processing path that processes the content of sensory information first, which overrode Tahani’s fear response

Jasmine is worried about an upcoming exam. Which scenario best illustrates emotion-focused coping?

Jasmine reaches out to her friends for comfort to reduce her stress

The final stage of general adaptation theory is known as

exhaustion

According to Kurt Lewin, an approach-approach conflict occurs when a person has to

choose between two outcomes that are both desirable

When a person is suffering from severe pain, the type of drug that will best help alleviate that pain is

an opiate

Carlos wants to lose weight but is having a hard time motivating himself to go to the gym after work because he enjoys watching movies after work instead. To increase his likelihood of going to the gym, Carlos should

reward himself immediately after going to the gym

Exposure to stressors decreases the effectiveness of lymphocytes in the blood stream, which perform the function of

defending the body from viruses

In an experiment, a researcher showed children a video of a person interacting with a doll. Half of the children watched a video of a person behaving violently toward a doll, and the other half saw a video of a person playing nicely with a doll. The researcher also looked at whether the gender and age of the child made a difference in how they interacted with the doll. In this study, the dependent variable was

the way children interact with a doll

A researcher wants to understand the personality characteristics and motivations that might help explain a famous political figure’s rise to power. She studies his early childhood experiences and other formative events in his life. The method this researcher is using to study personality is known as

a case study

Priscilla has recently found diaries from her family dating back multiple generations. She has noticed that there are similarities in their life events and in the way they thought about things that happened to them. She believes that it has to do with the fact that they all have the same inherited instincts that drive their behavior and that these instincts exist in all humans. Priscilla’s way of thinking is most in line with

Carl Jung’s collective unconscious

Which of the following is true of analogies in supporting problem solving?

Relevant analogies usually help people solve problems, but people often do not spontaneously think of relevant analogies.

Creativity is most closely associated with which of the following?

Divergent thinking

Paris tends to view personality as fairly stable and therefore her personality is more stable, whereas Lane tends to view personality as fairly changeable and therefore her personality is more changeable. These differences in attitudes and personality are most consistent with the

social cognitive view of personality

Every time Antonio fails a test he attributes his failure to a lack of sufficient intelligence, even though he rarely studies. According to the sociocultural theory of personality, Antonio is experiencing

an external locus of control

One feature that distinguishes Carl Rogers’ person-centered approach to personality development from behaviorist approaches to personality development is that the person-centered approach suggests that

personality is shaped by unconditional love and support for children’s behavior, whereas behaviorist approaches suggest that personality is conditioned through rewards and punishments

Rufus wanted to go to college after high school, but he did not go because he was afraid it would be too much work. For years he has considered going to college but he still fears that it will be too hard. Eventually he feels so unhappy that he goes to see a therapist, who follows Carl Rogers’s theory of humanistic personality. The therapist is most likely to explain Rufus's unhappiness as being a result of

a mismatch between his ideal self and his real self

While Luke is interviewing for a job, he takes a personality test measuring the five-factor personality model. This test is designed to be consistent with a

trait theory of personality

Shanni loves to travel internationally, owns many unusual pieces of art from local artists, and enjoys attending concerts featuring an eclectic collection of musicians. According to theorists Paul Costa and Robert McRae, Shanni’s personality is likely high on

openness to experience

Bella takes a test to develop an inventory of different aspects of her personality. She hopes to better understand herself and the kind of person she is. The test is most in line with a

trait theory of personality

Dr. Maisel is creating a new personality test. The test is a self-report measure in which participants answer questions on a scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” about how they would respond to particular situations. He then uses the responses to place participants along a spectrum in a number of different traits. He compares the results of the test to reports from the participants’ managers at work on their working styles and ability to work within their team and finds that the test results are highly positively correlated with managers’ reports. What type of test is he developing, and what type of validity or reliability can be determined from his work on the test?

Objective; construct validity

Five-year-old Tahani is entering a school where English is the only language spoken, but in her home, her family uses a combination of both English and her family’s native language. When she starts school, she takes a test measuring her English language development. Her score is well below that of the other children in her class, most of whom live in homes where only one language is spoken. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for Tahani’s test scores?

Because Tahani speaks more than one language, her proficiency in each language may come later than for her monolingual peers.

Dr. Santiago administers a test to a patient in which she asks him to provide an interpretation of a meaningless inkblot on a piece of paper. Several weeks later, she administers the test again and is surprised to find that the results are quite different from the first administration. What type of personality test is Dr. Santiago using, and based on her experience, what level of reliability does it have?

The Rorschach test; low reliability